Industry To FCC: Investigate Arbitron's PPMs

The Advisory Committee on Diversity for Communications in the Digital Age has asked the Federal Communications Commission to investigate the potential effects of measurement by the Portable People Meter, Arbitron's passive electronic measurement system, on radio stations with "urban" formats. They target specific minority groups, chiefly African-Americans and Hispanics. The advisory committee's request follows a series of public complaints by some radio groups about alleged flaws in Arbitron's sampling methodology for PPM, including open letters to Arbitron's management and ads addressed to the radio business at large in trade magazines. The alleged flaws include significant under-representation of minority groups, especially black males ages 18-54.